Method of making arch-supporting shoes



' May 18, 1948. J. E. LUCEY ETAL. 25,441,891

METHOD OF MAKING ARCH-SUPPORTING SHOES Filed NOV. 23, 1944 Inva afar-'5 61;; x: A; f/11%? Patented May 18, 1948 {W lli-ED stares PATENT oFFiciE METHQD OFMAKING ARCHJSEJPPORTING snoas John E. Lucey,."Brockton, and l'l a illaee Joseph 'Mc.Grath,.Marblehead, Mass.-

Application'Noyember 23, 1-944,-Serial No. 5643184 '1 Claim. .1 r

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and consistsina novel process of making shoes equipped with efiicien-t arch supporting structure for the foot of the wearer.

The desirability has long been appreciated of providing a stiff resilient support in the inside shank portion of the shoe, filling the void space above the margin of the insole between the upper and the arch of the foot and thus utilizing space in the shoe which would otherwise be. wasted for "supplying beneficial. support tor the foot.

We have discovered that the desired results maybe obtained in a particularly advantageous manner by incorporating an arch supporting member in the finished shoe, that is to say, by imparting the shape of the last to the upper and then, in the packing room, securing an arch supporting member to the insole of the shoe so that it occupies space formerly taken up by the last.

Heretof ore built in arch supports have required special or additional shoemaking steps that have interfered with the usual stock fitting and making-room operations and therefore objectionably increased the cost of the resulting shoes. For example, insoles have been cut to include a cookie or supporting wing in their contour but this requires special rounding patterns and slows down the lasting operation. Supporting wings have been sewn or otherwise attached to the ins-ole but that must be done before the insole is tacked to the last and so complicates all subsequent shoemaking steps.

These objections may be obviated and additional advantages secured by preliminarily providing the insole and a suitable arch supporting member with separate complementary fastener elements, then completing the shoe in the usual manner, and finally attaching the arch supporting member to the insole by engaging the fastener elements. The fastener elements may be inserted in the insole within the periphery there of and in locations where they are completely out of the way of any of the usual stock fitting or shoemaking operations to which the insole should be subjected; that is to say, the insole equipped with its fastener elements may be handled throughout the shoemaking process exactly as any ordinary insole in a welt, Compo or Littleway shoe. The arch supporting member, on the other hand, may be prepared and completed as a separate element independently of the shoemaking process. When the shoe has been fully completed, the supporting member has merely to be snapped into place and an arch supporting struc- .2 ture is thus provided which is as complete and eiiective as any structures which have beenheretofere-huilt in during the 'shoernaking :process 'at substantial expense.

These and: other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of 3 illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, .in which:

Fig. -lis a plan viewof the arch supporting element,.

Fig. '2 is a plan view of an insole,

Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section through the shahla of a welt shoe showing the arch/support in place, and:

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing the ribbed surface of the insole.

The invention is herein disclosed in its application to a welt shoe, but as already intimated, it is not limited to that or to any specific type of shoe.

A welt insole it) having a rib H reinforced by em duck i 2 may be prepared by the usual rounding and stock fitting operations without any modification Whatever from the usual and conventional practice. It is then provided with snap socket members '3 spaced on a curve adjacent to its inside shank edge. readily inserted and clenched by machinery provided for that purpose. As herein shown they are located inside the rib of the insole and clenched upon the duck reinforcing layer, presenting flat flanges on the inner face of the insole. If desired, gauge notches M may be provided in the outline of the insole as originally cut out and the sockets 13 located accurately by a template.

The arch supporting member comprises a sole leather blank i5 substantially oval in shape and preferably skived about its margin on its flesh side. After the supporting member has been completed, corresponding fastener elements comprising the projecting snap studs l6 are set in a curve just within its inner margin as shown in Fig. 1. If desired gauge notches I] may be provided in the supporting member 15 and the fastener studs inserted with the aid of the same template by which the socket members !3 have already been set in the insole.

These sockets may be sole is filled by the usual composition sole filling It will be noted that the clenched;

material '2 l.

ends of the socketmembers l3 are embedded in the filler 2i, also that the clenched end of each socket member is solid so that the Water-resistant characteristics of the insole are not impaired.

It will be apparent that our invention may be applied to the construction of a Compo or a welt shoe by placing snap fastener elements in the appropriate insole and in a corresponding arch supporting member, and that the insertion of the fastening elements in such insoles may be eifected at any convenient time in the shoemaking process without interfering with any of the usual shoemaking operations required in the con structi-on of the shoe. It is desirable but not essential that the socket members be placed in the insole rather than in the arch supporting member since they lie flush and smooth in the insole.

Having thus disclosed our invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, we claim as' new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

The process of making an arch supporting shoe, which includes the'steps of providing an insole having gauge notches at spaced points in its inside shank edge, locating from said notches a row of socket fastener elements disposed on a curve within the inside shank edge of the insole and inserting the fastener elements with a flange of each socket element presented in *fiat condition on the face of the insole which is to engage the last, completing the shoe by conventional shoemaking steps using said insole, providing a stiff resilient arch supporting member skived along one edge and provided with gauge notches 'matching those of the insole with complementary stud fastener elements located with respect to the gauge notches and arranged on a curve to correspond with the fastener elements of the insole, and then snapping the arch supporting member into place in the shoe by engaging the cooperating fastener elements and thus permitting the supporting member to assume an outwardly andupwardly curved condition.

JOHN E. LUcEY. 1 WALLACE JOSEPH McGRATH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

